Kai And Lloyd

Something I’ve noticed is that Kai only puts on his egotistical persona when he’s with a stranger or someone he barely knows. He pretends he only cares about himself when he wants to make a first impression because that’s a personality that makes most people leave him alone. He acts like he’s a big shot around fans because that’s what they expect him to be. He pretends he’s the self centered one because it perfectly hides how much he hates himself. It makes him look less “weak”. He openly laments how he couldn’t protect anyone in season 11 because he’s at a low point and lets it slip through the cracks. He’s a genuinely kind and loving person but he assumes that if he shows that he’ll be ridiculed.

Ever since he was a kid and had to raise himself and Nya he’s been prickly and vicious because otherwise people will take advantage of him. It’s a coping mechanism derived from never having a stable parental figure that made him feel safe.

my favorite thing about ninjago is that they are selfish heroes. not for themselves, but for each other. they prioritize each others' lives over saving the world so often... it just feels so human.

kai doodles thanks to this brush i just found out abt

life lessons with kai: red ninja tells you his favorite phrase

screenshot redraw of one of my fav Kai moments the screen shot ↓

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Hey! What do you think are the ninja's love languages?

I’d love to share my thoughts on this! For those of you that do not know the five love languages, they are five ways people might show how they love (obvi not limited to romantic) someone, and speak the way they would like to feel cared for. People tend to love all five, but certain types are special to them. The five are:  quality time, words of affirmation, gift giving, acts of service, and physical touch. I determined each character’s through how they interact with the others. So grab a snack, and get cozy because this is a lot.....

Cole

Cole's love language is definitely physical touch (both giving and receiving). Imagine being hugged by cole like it would be such a  nice hug guys.  Throughout the show, you can see him hugging, touching, or a simply arm on a shoulder as he smiles at them. For example, 

+ when cole hugged zane when he found him in s4, when cole grabbed kai and danced with him, and there are too many to all list here 

and, below are examples of how Cole not only gives affection like this, but also likes to be shown affection through physical touch

LOOK AT HOW HAPPY COLE LOOKS

anyways I also do believe Cole has a secondary  love language (again, both receiving and giving) , it being words of affirmation. We see Cole as a comforting character throughout Ninjago, like when he tried to uplift kai when kai was upset abt his powers, or when he reassures Zane when he told them he was a robot, by calling him special and saying “you're still the same zane” and remember how happy he gets when someone verbally comforts him as well. 

For example, when Kai and Nya comforted him when he was a ghost. When Cole lost the travelers tea in s11, he clearly needed someone to tell him it was alright and they would get it back. And when his father accepted him, he was so happy yk... like I always wanna see Cole happy pls

Kai

ok so Kai is.. complicated. I feel like we see him do all five of these but I'm pretty confident I've picked out the two most supported ones, in both giving and receiving ends Acts of Service, and Words of Affirmation (with a side of physical touch and quality time. ik. its basically all of them but bare with me).

First of all, let me explain Acts Of Service. This one is pretty self-explanatory ; when Nya was young, Kai undoubtably took care of her and supported them in ways Nya probably doesn’t even remember anymore since she was so young. This was surely his way of showing her he loved her, and showing that he wouldn’t leave her like their parents did. 

  Remember, Kai was attacked by skeletons, he attempted to fight them off for Nya’s sake, despite how scared he must’ve been. When he couldn’t , he become so desperate he joined a random stranger and followed him to an unknown place when this place, this house, was all he had ever known. Protection is definitely an act of service. 

This brings me to my next point: Words of Affirmation. Kai is very vocal about how he loves Nya and the others. Whether it him be saying I love you directly, or complimenting/reassuring others. For example, 

Over here, he reassures Lloyd by telling him how he himself felt, and then telling him he would look after him no matter what. 

An example of how Kai is verbal with Nya is when she gives Kai a bike bc they needed to run away from Ronin. With this, Kai says,” I love my little sister,’’

Another example is when Kai reassures Nya in s10 when nya makes a ‘fatal’ mistake and cole falls off the bounty. He tells her shes the brains, and that she’s always building all the plans. This moment also stood out to me a lot because Kai knows exactly what Nya needed to hear. ( also when he entirely supported her when she told him she was samurai x, and more) + Kai reassured cole that he was still a part of their team even after being a ghost (words of affirmation) and helped Jay propose to Nya and entirely supported/cheered him on through the process (acts of service)

I said quality time bc remember how when his parents came back he was playing video games with his dad, etc - he was clearly having sm fun. Also, Kai does tend to hug/ lean against others quite a lot , as shown in images below Cole’s analysis (physical touch)

Nya

Nya isn’t as verbal or touchy as her brother, and so she’s definitely Acts of Service and Gift Giving. We see this throughout the seasons as Nya constantly helps the Ninja in the beginning by monitoring missions and aiding them through technology, making their missions smoother and easier. And in the later seasons, she could finally help them in person, since she became the water ninja

Now Nya always gifted the Ninja mechs, bikes, gadgets, you name it. I think this habit of hers could be considered both gift giving and acts of service. She tends to do it throughout the entire show, from giving them mechs to climb that mountain to get to the blinds man eye, to all sorts of other stuff the team required.

I do strongly believe the reason why both the smith siblings have acts of service as a love language is because when growing up they didn’t really have anyone else to do it for them. Nya most likely as a child probably made small gadgets for kai as to show him that she loves him, and that gradually continued to the other ninja as well.

However, when nya is on the receiving end, I think she loves physical touch and words of affirmation. This is proven since whenever kai and jay are verbal with her, she always has a positive reaction. Same when Kai and jay respond to her with physical touch- she doesn’t mind it, and happily responds to it as well.

Jay

Jay definitely has three love languages: words of affirmation, quality time, and physical touch (mostly revolving around nya)

Jay is extremely verbal when it comes to Nya, saying he loves her multiple times throughout Ninjago, similar to Kai. However, unlike Kai, who tends to do this to all the ninja, Jay usually focuses on Nya when it comes to verbal expression and words of affirmation. Telling her how they were meant for each other, regularly complimenting her, etc. 

As shown above and below, Jay is also very physical with mainly Nya, kissing her on the cheek quite frequently and dancing with her on various occasions. He loves spending time with her, preferring to go on missions with her than anyone else (as shown in the show, and that's why his analysis is mainly jaya lol)

Jay, when on the receiving end, also loves the same things. He gets extremally happy when Nya responds back to with the same actions. The biggest proof of this is how jay unlocked his true potential: Nya states that she doesn’t need Jay to wear any clothes or pretend to be anything he’s not, because she liked him for being him then proceeded to kiss him on the cheek, which led to Jay turning back human. Afterwards, Nya tells him, “You are the best You,” and with this, Jay unlocks his true potential. 

This tells us a lot about how heavily Jay takes Nya’s words, and how much words of affirmation can inspire/motivate him, so much to the point where he unlocked his true potential!

Zane

Zane’s love languages are probably: quality time and acts of service, with a side of words of affirmation. This applies to both when he shows affection, and how he likes when he receives affection.

Zane has shown multiple times to enjoy spending time with the team. Three examples of this are when he was escaping Chen with Cole (that was fun), when Zane had fun throwing rocks at Kai when Kai become chancellor (guys that was hilarious.) , and WHEN HE AND PIXAL BECAME ‘DETECTIVES’ GUYS THAT SCENE WAS THE BEST

(Also, Zane is sometimes shown to be physical too, as shown here. However the other love languages I stated seem to be more primary outlets of how he expresses affection, this scene still was too cute not to share)

Zane also cooks for the team on multiple occasions, and its stated/implied that everyone loves his cooking. He also bravely sacrificed himself for the Ninja , and as I stated before, protection is an act of service. He also is willing to do any favors the ninja ask him too, and never really turns them down, and that's very sweet. Zane has literally never been ‘rude’ to anyone.

Zane also tends to reassure others, however unlike Cole/Kai he does so in a more logical way. He states facts  about his reassuring statements, and I think that’s an important part of who he is. His interactions with Pixal are also very cute, and I love their dynamic sm. 

Lloyd

Lloyd montgomery garmadon. I strongly believe that our boy loves all sorts of affection, since he was deprived of any as a child ): However, throughout the show I believe his ‘giving’ love language is: words of affirmation, and acts of service. 

We see Lloyd frequently uplifting the Ninja (he is the leader after all),  when they ‘lost’ zane, he reunited the ninja that left, he tried to reassure kai that even without his powers he was important, and he warned cole abt vania (this is an act of service I think? Lloyd wanted to protect cole from being betrayed from a princess like he was and he had good intentions. I think what he did was sweet)+ and various more examples that im sure you are all aware of.

His words of affirmation is not limited to the ninja, for example: when they ‘lost’ zane, he reunited the ninja that left, he led  the Elemental Masters + Serpentine against Chen in the Second Serpentine War and encouraged them all, led the resistance, etc etc. These actions  can also be counted as acts of service too. After all, he leads them and creates plans for them too.

When receiving, I think Lloyd reacts positively to physical affection (like above) and also words of affirmation. He is definitely touch-starved and doesn't mind hugs at all (he loves them in fact). And, words of affirmation are great to Lloyd too, a prime example of this is Kai comforting Lloyd on multiple occasions and Nya doing the same. Kai and Nya both promised to protect Lloyd, and always be there for him, and said so verbally. You could see how it impacted Lloyd, reassuring him and helped him regain confidence. 

I also think he loves quality time as well, since he loved spending time with his dad, talking with him, and training with him. I love their interactions and it really shows how much Lloyd values his dad, despite everything.

phew that was long.. thanks for sticking with me

Wu: You’re violent.

Kai: Yeah but I’m short, so it’s adorable.

honestly if kai had a main villain he had to defeat, i think he should ‘defeat’ them with love.

think about it: it would be so on par with kai’s character, demonstrating kai’s courage to defeat an enemy by showing them the value of others, the fact that loving itself is something so courageous

i think that it would show kai in a true light, because we all know he isnt actually  cocky or rude as ninjago potrays him sometimes

honestly it would be so cute to see kai extending a hand to  his ‘villian’ and helping them up, and embracing them bc that is literally what kai would do.

ninjago missed so many opportunities with kai and it makes me so sad sometimes

what if lloyds favorite animal is a llama because of the double L’s

like yk how movie garmadon said la lloyd instead of lloyd? what if he also calls llama’s : La llamas